iPth  CONGRESS,  Fill 

?A  Session. 


iROM  THE 

SECRETARY  OF  THE  TREASURY, 

TRANSMITTING 

A  REPORT  Of  THE  FIRST  COMPTROLLER  OF  THE  TREASURY, 


VPOTS  THE  SrBJECT  OF  COLXECTlNG 


On  Boats  employed  in  transportation  on  the  Canals 

IN  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


BECEMBER  15,  1824. 

Head,  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Commerce,  with  instructions  to  inquire  into 
the  expediency  of  so  amending-  the  acts  of  Congress  regulating  the  commerce  of 
the  United  States,  and  imposing  duties  on  tonnage,  that  they  shall  not  be  construed 
to  extend  to  boats  employed  exclusively  in  transportation  on  the  interior  canals  q;.' 
the  respective  states- 


WASHINGTON 

PRINTED  BT  GALES  &  SEATON. 


[  li  J 


H 


Treasury  Department, 

December  14,  1824. 

Sir:  In  obedience  to  a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives', 
of  the  8th  instant,  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  a  report  from  the  First 
Comptroller  of  the  Treasury,  which,  with  the  correspondence  accom- 
panying it,  contains  the  information  required. 

I  remain,  with  respect, 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

WM.  H.  CRAWFORD. 

gon.  Henry  Clay, 

Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 


CLAJJIC5 

.N'T? 
VJ55 


[  it  ] 


5 


Treasury  Department, 
Comptroller-' s  Office,  9th  December,  1824. 

Sir:  In  compliance  with  the  "resolution  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, of  the  8th  instant,  directing  that  the  Secretary  0  the  Trea- 
sury Department  communicate  to  that  House  copies  of  any  instruc- 
tions which  had  been  issued  to  the  Collectors  of  the  Customs,  or  any 
of  them,  within  the  state  of  New  York,  relative  to  the  collection  of 
tonnage  duties  on  boats  employed  in  transportation  on  the  canals  in 
that  state;  and,  also,  any  information  which  might  exist  in  that  De- 
partment relative  to  the  execution  of  such  instructions,  I  have  the 
honor  to  enclose,  herewith,  the  following  documents,  viz: 

If  Copy  of  a  letter  from  J.  Hawley,  collector  for  the  district  of 
Genessee,  dated  29th  June,  1 824. 

2  Copy  of  the  answer  of  this  Department,  dated  16th  July,  1824; 
together  with  copies  of  the  documents  alluded  to  in,  and  which  ac- 
companied, that  answer. 

S.  Extract  of  a  letter  from  this  Department  to  Collector  Sage, 
dated  16th  October,  1824. 

In  relation  to  the  execuljon  of  the  law,  conformably  to  the  construc- 
tion given  to  it  by  this  Department,  I  am  in  possession  of  no  other 
information  than  that  contained  in  a  letter  received  from  Peter  Sailly, 
collector  for  the  district  of  Champlain,  under  date  of  tlie  9th  Sep- 
tember, 1824,  an  extract  of  which  accompanies  this,  numbered  4. 
According  to  that  extract,  it  appears  that  the  law  had  only  been  par- 
tially put  in  force  by  him,  having,  up  to  that  day,  collected  no  more 
than  g20  40,  being  the  tonnage  duties  on  ten  boats. 

The  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  is  returned  here- 
with. 

With  considerations  of  high  respect, 
I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

JOS.  ANDERSON,  Comptroller. 

Hon.  Wm.  H.  Crawford. 


No.  1. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Jesse  Hawley,  Esq.  Collector  of  the  district  of  Gen- 
nessee,  JST.  Y.  to  the  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury. 

Rochester,  June  29,  1824. 

Sir:  The  conflict  between  the  steam  boats  on  the  North  river,  in 
this  state,  for  business  and  monopoly,  seems  to  have  elicited  the  idea 
that  the  revenue  and  navigation  Jaws  of  the  United  States  broadly 


[11] 


comprehends  all  marine  and  water  vehicles  for  the  conveyance  of 
merchandise,  over  five  tons,  by  whatever  means  they  may  he  propell- 
ed, or  whatever  channels  of  water  they  may  pursue,  and  alike  in- 
cludes the  boats  navigating  the  waters  of  the  New  York  canal,  al- 
though the  canal  itself  is  an  artificial  work — State's  property  and 
jurisdiction — and  an  interior  communication. 

Be  pleased  to  give  me  your  construction  of  the  law  of  18th  Febru- 
ary. 1793,  *!  vol  168th  page,  as  being  applicable  to  these  canal 
boats,  with  instructions  how  to  administer  it. 

I  am,  very  respectfully,  vours.  &c. 

J.  HAWLEY. 

The  Hon.  Joseph  Anderson. 


Xo.  2. 

Copy  of  Comptroller's  answer  to  Collector  Hawley. 

Treasury  Department, 

Co  nip  I  roller's  Office,  July  16,  1824. 

Sir:  I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  29th  ultimo,  requesting  the 
opinion  of  this  Department,  whether  the  act  for  enrolling  and  licens- 
ing vessels,  passed  the  1 8th  February,  1793.  is  applicable  to  the  ca- 
nal boats,  over  five  tons  burthen,  employed  on  the  New  Yrork  canal. 

This  subject  having  been  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  this  De- 
partment, by  the  Honorable  Henry  C.  Martindale  and  Stephen  Van 
Rensselaer,  an  answer  was  given  to  them,  under  date  of  the  6th  April 
last,  a  copy  of  which  is  enclosed,  for  your  information  and  govern- 
ment. 

It  may  be  proper  to  add,  that  one  of  the  gentlemen  above  named, 
after  receiving  the  answer  alluded  to,  submitted  a  resolution  to  Con- 
gress, with  a  view  of  having  canal  boats  exempted  from  the  operation 
of  the  coasting  act,  which  resolution  was  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  Commerce,  whose  report  oi\  the  subject  is  noticed  in  the  National 
Jntelligencer  of  the  22d  April,  1824,  in  the  following  words: 

"  House  of  Representatives. 

"  Mr.  Newton,  from  the  Committee  on  Commerce,  made  a  report 
against  amending  the  law,  so  as  to  admit  vessels  to  navigate  canals 
without  enrolment  or  license,  or  payment  of  tonnage  duties;  in  w  hich 
fhe  House  concurred." 

Respectfully, 

JOS.  ANDERSON,  CompL 
J.  Hawley.  Esq.  Collector.  Germessce.  JVt  K 


[Ill 


7 


Copy  of  Comptroller's  letter  to  the  Hon.  H>  C.  Martindale,  and  Stephen 

Van  Rensselaer. 

Treasury  Department, 

Comptroller's  Office,  6th  April,  1824. 

Gentlemen:  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  has  referred  to  me  your 
joint  letter  to  him  of  the  2d  inst.  wherein  you  state  that  you  had  been 
informed  that  the  Collector  of  the  district  of  Champlain,  in  the  state 
of  New  York,  had  recently  issued  a  notification  requiring  the  owners 
of  canal  boats  to  take  licenses  to  navigate  them  as  for  coasting  ves- 
sels, and  ask  whether  sue!)  notification  had  been  issued  in  pursuance 
of  instructions  from  the  Treasury  Department:  and,  if  not,  whether 
instructions  from  the  Department  to  the  collector  of  that  district 
might  not  obviate  the  necessity  of  so  modifying  the  law  as  to  exempt 
canal  boats,  (which  it  could  never  have  intended  to  have  included,) 
from  the  inconvenience  and  embarrassments  of  its  provisions. 

In  reply,  I  have  to  observe  that,  from  the  enclosed  copy  of  a  letter 
received  from  the  collector  for  the  district  of  Champlain,  dated  the 
13th  of  January  last,  and  the  answer  of  this  Department,  dated  the 
29th  ultimo,  it  will  be  perceived  that,  although  no  express  opinion  is 
given,  (in  answering  the  questions  propounded  by  the  collector.) 
whether  boats  employed  in  the  transportation  of  goods  on  canals  are 
subject  to  the  operation  of  the  act  of  18th  February,  1793,  for  enrol- 
ling and  licensing  vessels;  yet,  as  the  inference  is  to  be  drawn  from 
that  answer,  that  such  vessels  are  so  liable,  it  may  be  proper  to  state 
the  views  of  this  Department  on  the  subject. 

In  the  6th  section  of  the  act  referred  to.  there  is  a  very  general 
clause  requiring  all  vessels  of  five  tons  and  upwards,  trading  between 
district  and  district  or  between  different  places  in  the  same  district^ 
whether  laden  with  domestic  or  foreign  goods,  to  be  licensed,  on  pain, 
in  default  thereof,  of  being  subjected  to  certain  disabilities  and 
penalties. 

To  that  general  clause,  as  to  licensing  vessels,  there  are  no  other 
exceptions  than  those  contained  in  the  37th  section  of  the  act,  in  the 
following  words: 

"  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  to  extend  to  any  boat 
or  lighter,  not  being  masted;  or,  if  masted,  and  not  decked,  employed 
in  the  harbor  of  any  town  or  city." 

Before  granting  a  license  to  any  vessel,  a  tonnage  duty  at  the  rate 
of  six  cents  per  ton  per  annum,  is  to  be  paid;  but,  by  the  8th  section  of 
an  act.  passed  the  1st  of  May,  1802,  (which  was  recognized  as  being  in 
force  by  the  5th  section  of  the  navigation  act  of  the  1st  of  March,  1817,) 
an  exception  is  made  as  to  the  payment  of  tonnage  duty  on  any  boat, 
flat,  raft,  or  other  vessel  of  fifty  tons  and  under,  wholly  employed  in 
carrying  on  inland  trade  in  certain  specified  districts. 

This  exception  as  to  the  payment  of  tonnage  duty  in  the  case  of  such 
boats,  flats,  or  other  vessels  so  employed  in  certain  districts,  shews  that 
before  the  exception  was  made,  they  were  considered  to  he  liable  to 


8 


[u3 


tonnage  duties,  and,  if  so  liable,  of  course,  subject  to  the  general  opera-- 
tion  of  the  a<  t  for  enrolling  and  licensing  vessels  before  referred  to. 

On  the  question  being  submitted  by  the  collector  at  Newport,  Rhode 
Island — v.  hcther  ferry-boats  of  more  than  live  tons  burthen  were  re- 
quired to  be  licensed.  Mr.  Comptroller  Wolcott  decided  that  they 
>\ (•!•(%  unless  they  were  embraced  in  the  exception  in  the  37th  section 
of  that  act. 

A  copy  of  his  answer  to  the  collector,  dated  the  18th  of  June,  179*3, 
is  enclosed  herewith. 

In  a  rase  in  which  the  question  was  submitted  by  the  collector  at 
-Philadelphia,  whether  vessels  not  decked,  and  above  five  tons  burthen, 
sailing  from  one  part  of  that  district  to  another  part  of  the  same,  were 
subject  to  the  operation  of  the  coasting  act,  Mr.  Comptroller  Duvall 
decided  that  they  were. 

A  copy  of  his  decision  is  also  enclosed,  herewith,  being  contained 
in  a  letter  addressed  by  him  to  Mr.  Gallatin,  then  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  dated  the  I5tfa  of  February,  1808. 

The  last  mentioned  decision  has  since  been  applied  to  all  analogous 
eases  in  all  the  districts,  with  the  exception  as  to  the  payment  of 
tonnage  duties  in  the  case  of  the  vessels  embraced  in  the  exemption 
in  the  8th  section  of  the  act  of  1st  May,  1802,  before  referred  to. 

According  to  these  decisions,  the  boats  employed  in  the  transporta- 
tion of  goods  on  the  canal  between  the  district  of  Champlain  and  the 
district  of  New  York,  would  be  liable  to  the  payment  of  tonnage  du- 
ties, and  to  the  operation  of  the  act  of  the  18th  February,  1793,  for 
enrolling  and  licensing  vessels. 

If  it  should  be  considered  reasonable  and  proper  to  make  an  excep- 
tion in  those  respects,  in  favor  of  the  boats  above  five  tons  burthen,  em- 
ployed on  canals,  it  is  respectfully  considered  that  a  special  provision 
therefor,  by  the  Legislature,  will  be  necessary. 

With  great  respect, 

I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Your  obedient  servant, 
JOS.  ANDERSON,  Comptroller- 
Hon.  Henry  C  Martindale  and 

Stephen  Van  Rensselaer,  Congress- 


Copy  of  Comptroller  ffolcott's  letter  to  Collector  EUery,  dated  iSih 

June,  1793. 

Treasury  Department, 

Comptroller's  Office,  \8th  June,  1793. 

Sir:  Your  favor  of  the  3d  instant  has  been  received.  There  is  no- 
thing in  the  law  to  exempt  ferry  boats,  of  more  than  five  tons  burthen, 
from  being  licensed,  unless  such  boats  are  of  the  description  mention, 
ed  in  the  37  th  section,  and  are  employed  in  the  harbor  of  a  town  or 


[11] 


city.    That  it  was  the  design  of  the  law,  that  ferry  boats  should,  in 
certain  cases,  be  licensed,  clearly  appears  from  the  12th  section. 
I  am.  kc. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

OLIVER  WOLCOTT,  Comptroller. 

William  Ellery,  Esq. 

Collector,  Newport,  Rhode  Island. 


Copy  of  Comptroller  Duvatt's  letter  to  A.  Gallatin,  Esq,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  dated  the  15th  February,  1808. 

Treasury  Department, 
Comptroller's  Office,  1 5th  February,  1808. 

Sir:  My  opinion  on  the  case,  stated  by  the  Collector  at  Philadel- 
phia, is  now  submitted. 

The  question  is,  whether  vessels,  not  decked,  and  above  five  tons, 
sailing  from  one  part  of  a  district  to  another  part  of  the  same  district, 
ought  to  be  licensed? 

This  question  depends  upon  a  correct  construction  of  the  6th  and 
57th  sections  of  the  coasting  act. 

It  appears  to  me  that,  by  the  section  first  mentioned,  all  vessels  of 
five  tons,  and  upwards,  are  subject  to  the  operation  of  the  coasting 
act,  unless  they  are  embraced  by  the  saving  clause  contained  in  the 
37th  section,  which  is  in  these  words:  4<  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall 
be  construed  to  extend  to  any  boat  or  lighter  not  being  masted,  or,  if 
masted,  and  not  decked,  employed  in  the  harbor  of  any  town  or  city." 
It  does  not  appear  that  the  vessel,  which  occasioned  the  letter  of  the 
collector,  is  thus  employed,  but  that  she  is  employed  to  go  from  one 
place  in  a  district  to  another  place  in  the  same  district.  I  am  of  opin- 
ion, therefore,  that  this  vessel  is  subject  to  the  operation  of  the  coast- 
ing act. 

If  the  owner  of  the  vessel  shall  refuse  or  neglect  to  take  out  a  li- 
cense, she  will  be  subject,  in  certain  cases,  to  the  payment  of  foreign 
fees  and  tonnage:  and.  in  others,  to  forfeiture,  according  to  the  provi- 
sions of  the  6th  section  before  mentioned. 

The  foregoing  may  be  considered  as  an  answer,  also,  to  the  case 
submitted  by  Mr.  Sloan. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

G.  DUVALL,  Comptroller. 

Albert  Gallatin,  Esq. 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  V.  S, 

2 


10 


r  it  ] 


No.  3. 

Extract  of  a  letter  from  the  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury,  dated  the  \6th 
October,  1824,  to  Natlian  Sage,  Collector  for  the  District  of  Oswego, 
in  reply  to  a  Utter  received  from  his  deputy. 

"He  also  states  that  the  determination  made  by  the  Collector  of  ' 
Gonessee,  to  compel  canal  boats  to  take  out  licenses,  had  produced  a 
great  excitement  against  revenue  officers,  from  Buffaloeto  Albany. 

"I  regret  that  what  lias  been  considered  a  correct  exposition  of  the 
laws,  should  have  produced  the  effect  stated,  and  I  can  now  only  say 
that  the  difficulties  presented  by  this  case,  will  receive  further  consi- 
deration, and  that  the  most  adviseable  course  to  be  pursued  by  the 
Government,  under  the  existing  state  of  it,  will  be  adopted,  of  which 
the  Collectors  will  be  duly  informed 

♦•There  is  no  doubt  but  that  an  application  will  be  made  to  Con- 
gress at  their  next  session,  for  some  modification  of  the  laws  upon 
this  subject;  and  it  is  highly  probable  that  it  may  succeed." 


No.  4. 

Extract  of  a  letter  from  Peter  Sailly,  Collector,  to  the  Comptroller  of  the 
Treasury,  dated  Collector's  Office,  District  of  Champlain,  Plattsburg, 
9th  September,  1824. 

«  In  the  attempt  of  putting  the  coasting  act  in  force,  as  relates  to 
the  navigation  of  vessels  on  the  Champlain  canal,  from  this  district 
into  the  district  of  New  York,  I  have  several  times  sent  licenses  for 
enrolled  vessels,  to  the  deputy  Collector  at  White  Hall,  on  his  appli- 
cation in  behalf  of  owners  and  masters  of  canal  boats,  and  also  the1 
bonds  and  oaths  required  by  the  act  to  be  executed  and  taken  at  that 
place;  in  several  instances  the  tonnage  duty  was  not  paid  at  the  time 
the  licenses  were  delivered,  and  could  not  be  obtained  afterwards,  in 
consequence  of  which,  I  have  refused  to  enrol  vessels,  and  to  gr  ant 
licenses,  unless  the  tonnage  duty  was  previously  paid.  About  22 
vessels  subject  to  the  tonnage  duty,  have  been  enrolled,  but  on  10 
boats  only,  has  the  duty  been  paid,  to  an  amount  of  $20  40,  to  this 
day." 


